Just returned from a short 3 dive day 3 night trip to GC. Stayed at Compass Point diving with Ocean Frontiers. Jet Blue out of JFK. The flight was excellent arriving 20 mins early around 11 AM. Package with OF included a rental car. Received free upgrade from Avis from compact to not sure -mid size. Very nice of them but the two of us would have been fine in a compact. We thought about trying to rush out to CP to try to get on an afternoon 2 tank but opted instead to head out to the Cracked Conch to dive turtle reef and have a relaxing lunch afterwards at Macabuca. In the water before 1 PM and the weather was sunny and warm, diving very good - good visibility and no current. Silver fish school in the entry area, large number of tarpon near the cave, garden eels out in the sand and a juve drum on the coral head opposite the cave, spotted moray on top of the reef just to the north and a nice sized lobster. Two tube sponges "smoking". Thoroughly enjoyable and a nice warm up dive having been out of the water since Oct. Lunch special was a blackened snapper wrap with fries. With a cold beverage sitting at the bar absolutely wonderful. Made the effort of getting up at 3:30 AM well worth it.
Drive out to CP from the Cracked Conch took about an hour. First time staying at CP and diving with OF. Read quite abit about both on SB. One bdrm right on the water next to the dive dock. Room was nice, clean, comforable, plenty of room for two with a nice kitchen and balcony with ocean front view. Crates were left outside our door and we were instructed to place our gear in the basket and it would be taken by staff to be placed on the boat. We booked a night dive for our day of arrival, a two tank am the second day and three tank safari for the third. Dove air for the night dive (max depth about 22 ft) and nitrox for the next two days. Upon arrival, staff was friendly welcoming and efficient. Check in took minutes and we settled in and relaxed and rested up for our night dive.
On the night dive, we walked down to the boat and our gear was on the boat all set up and waiting for us. About 10 on the night dive and we dove Sunset Reef just inside the outer reef, in a shallow no current protected site. Rain was threatening and there was lighting off in the distance. The ride out was only 3-5 minutes from the dock so not much concern about weather. After a nice briefing we decided to head out on our own an explore the coral heads and enjoy the night. Towards the end of our dive my dive buddy (my 19 yr. old daughter) was signaling to get my attention. I looked over in her light beam and it took me a second or two to realize what she spotted was a dolphin, 7-8 foot in length, swimming around and rubbing against the mooring line. It was very exciting for the first moments watching the dolphin swim about the mooring line, 20 feet or so from us. Then the dolphin swam towards us. It swam by us at first then swam up to us, which seemed a bit odd. We turned away and swam a short distance only to look back and find the snout of the dolphin right at our elbow. Now this definitely seemed odd and we both surfaced, being only about 10 feet down at this point. We both agreed that we should end our dive, being right at the mooring line we swam up to the boat and exited. On board there was one diver on board already and we shared info on our encounter which was met with some skepticism. The crew however suspected that our encounter was with a known dolphin. In the midst of the conversation, two more divers returned with a similar encounter then two more and so on. Each pair of divers encountered the dolphin which seemed to get progressively more interested in the divers. Some divers had their fins tugged by the dolphin. Two others were bumped by the dolphin, one on the tank and one on the body. Once everyone was onboard, the crew and some others confirmed that this was very likely "stinky", the nickname given to a lone dolphin known to inhabit the waters around GC. Definitely made for a unique night dive experience.
The next day we woke to a grayish day for our two tank dive am dive. Once again check in for the dive was a breeze and our equipment was all set up and waiting for us. OF washes and stores the gear each night and has the gear on the boat up set up for you each day. We dove two south sites, Tarpon Terrace and Ironshore Garden. We had some young newly certified divers on the first dive but the DM lead the group to the wall and the more experienced divers were able to do a nice swim through from the shallows popping out on the wall around 90 feet or so and cruise the wall. Nice dive. Upon our return to the shallows and the mooring the vis dropped considerably with the water almost looking like a yellow haze, presumably from the sand and surge. Back on the boat the crew switched our gear over to another tank, offered fresh fruit and moved us on to our second site. Next sight Ironshore Gardens. This sight provided a myriad of swim throughs, tunnels and shutes to explore with the vis greatly improved. Fun dive. Back at CP around noon. Drove out towards Rum Point and had lunch at Over the Edge, great local resturant right on the water. Great lunch of grilled marinated lobster tales and grilled Wahoo, rice and beans, pasta salad and plantains.
The next day we were off on our 3 tank safari which OF now promotes as going to unmarked sites in areas that they are exploring by scooter and gps. For an additional $10 they provided lunch which I would recommend. Lunch consisted of a cold cut sandwich and soda, plus fresh fruit – watermelon, apples and bananas, chips and a never ending bag of trail mix. We did not go hungry. We left the dock around 9 AM and returned around 4. Another gray day with light rain but the winds dropped off considerably and the sea became very calm. We headed north. Our first dive was past and outside the no dive zone. Our first dive started in the moderate rain at a site called Eye Full and it was a spectacular wall dive with an amazing swim through up and through a pinnacle projecting out from the wall. The wall was simply majestic with visibility approaching 200 ft. Yes 200 ft. Max depth 93 feet. I could have spent the entire day here. Which by the way we essentially did just moving a little further east for our next two dives.
Our second dive was at a site referred to as the End Zone. We started in the shallows and move out to a wall and headed along the wall. Sand channels in the shallows with lots of fish. Spotted a number of juve fairy basslets. Back on board with still some light rain but the wind all but disappeared and the seas dropped down to calm. Lunch was nice and more food than we could possibly eat. Trail mix really hit the spot between dives.
Third dive was a drift dive between two sites referred to as Mastiff Mtn and Neverland, again staying mostly on the edge of the wall. When we entered the water and dropped down we spotted a hugh loggerhead turtle swimming away from us. Swimming along the wall again was amazing with great vis despite the lack of sunshine above. What was noticeable on these three dives in this “remote” area of the north wall was the large amount of lion fish. At turtle reef we did not see any. None on the night dive. On our two tank we saw maybe one or two. On the three tank, lionfish were in abundance in the shallows at every site. On our 2nd of three dives in the shallow we stopped counting at 30 in the first 15 minutes. There was one coral head overhang in the shallows that had 9 underneath and around it.
After a great day of diving, resting and clean up we headed out to Tukas for our last night’s dinner. Tukas is just down the street from CP and is described as having an Australian chef with an Australian Carribean fusion menu. The restaurant is located on the water. It was drizzling outside so we opted to eat inside. The food was fantastic and I would recommend. We had lionfish cerviche and kangaroo sausages as apps and my daughter had grilled tuna and I had grilled mahi mahi with mussels. Both dishes were served with risotto. The meal with apps and two drinks was on expensive side but we felt it was well worth the price.
The next morning we checked out and again the staff was great, efficient and friendly. We were each given a complimentary log book listing the 55 sites on the norh, east and south side and a print out of each of our days dives, the names of the sites, max depth and bottom time. Nice touch. We drove to the airport in heavy rain, dropped off the rental car, checked in, through security, customs and the wait for the flight. The trip home was pleasant and uneventful. Air temps in NY were higher than GC.
Despite the less than ideal weather, we had fantastic diving and thoroughly enjoyed our time staying at CP and diving with OF. We would definitely return and stay and dive with them again. The walls on the North and South side were majestic. I used to dive GC in the 70s and 80s diving the west side. Just returned to GC last year for the first time since and while a lot has changed I found the island a pleasure to visit, the people friendly and could find areas on the island that reminded me of GC of many years ago. I did miss seeing the large wrecks on the reef I remember seeing way back when but I suppose it really was nothing more than junk and the view is perhaps better without them. All in all a great trip and we will be back for sure.
Drive out to CP from the Cracked Conch took about an hour. First time staying at CP and diving with OF. Read quite abit about both on SB. One bdrm right on the water next to the dive dock. Room was nice, clean, comforable, plenty of room for two with a nice kitchen and balcony with ocean front view. Crates were left outside our door and we were instructed to place our gear in the basket and it would be taken by staff to be placed on the boat. We booked a night dive for our day of arrival, a two tank am the second day and three tank safari for the third. Dove air for the night dive (max depth about 22 ft) and nitrox for the next two days. Upon arrival, staff was friendly welcoming and efficient. Check in took minutes and we settled in and relaxed and rested up for our night dive.
On the night dive, we walked down to the boat and our gear was on the boat all set up and waiting for us. About 10 on the night dive and we dove Sunset Reef just inside the outer reef, in a shallow no current protected site. Rain was threatening and there was lighting off in the distance. The ride out was only 3-5 minutes from the dock so not much concern about weather. After a nice briefing we decided to head out on our own an explore the coral heads and enjoy the night. Towards the end of our dive my dive buddy (my 19 yr. old daughter) was signaling to get my attention. I looked over in her light beam and it took me a second or two to realize what she spotted was a dolphin, 7-8 foot in length, swimming around and rubbing against the mooring line. It was very exciting for the first moments watching the dolphin swim about the mooring line, 20 feet or so from us. Then the dolphin swam towards us. It swam by us at first then swam up to us, which seemed a bit odd. We turned away and swam a short distance only to look back and find the snout of the dolphin right at our elbow. Now this definitely seemed odd and we both surfaced, being only about 10 feet down at this point. We both agreed that we should end our dive, being right at the mooring line we swam up to the boat and exited. On board there was one diver on board already and we shared info on our encounter which was met with some skepticism. The crew however suspected that our encounter was with a known dolphin. In the midst of the conversation, two more divers returned with a similar encounter then two more and so on. Each pair of divers encountered the dolphin which seemed to get progressively more interested in the divers. Some divers had their fins tugged by the dolphin. Two others were bumped by the dolphin, one on the tank and one on the body. Once everyone was onboard, the crew and some others confirmed that this was very likely "stinky", the nickname given to a lone dolphin known to inhabit the waters around GC. Definitely made for a unique night dive experience.
The next day we woke to a grayish day for our two tank dive am dive. Once again check in for the dive was a breeze and our equipment was all set up and waiting for us. OF washes and stores the gear each night and has the gear on the boat up set up for you each day. We dove two south sites, Tarpon Terrace and Ironshore Garden. We had some young newly certified divers on the first dive but the DM lead the group to the wall and the more experienced divers were able to do a nice swim through from the shallows popping out on the wall around 90 feet or so and cruise the wall. Nice dive. Upon our return to the shallows and the mooring the vis dropped considerably with the water almost looking like a yellow haze, presumably from the sand and surge. Back on the boat the crew switched our gear over to another tank, offered fresh fruit and moved us on to our second site. Next sight Ironshore Gardens. This sight provided a myriad of swim throughs, tunnels and shutes to explore with the vis greatly improved. Fun dive. Back at CP around noon. Drove out towards Rum Point and had lunch at Over the Edge, great local resturant right on the water. Great lunch of grilled marinated lobster tales and grilled Wahoo, rice and beans, pasta salad and plantains.
The next day we were off on our 3 tank safari which OF now promotes as going to unmarked sites in areas that they are exploring by scooter and gps. For an additional $10 they provided lunch which I would recommend. Lunch consisted of a cold cut sandwich and soda, plus fresh fruit – watermelon, apples and bananas, chips and a never ending bag of trail mix. We did not go hungry. We left the dock around 9 AM and returned around 4. Another gray day with light rain but the winds dropped off considerably and the sea became very calm. We headed north. Our first dive was past and outside the no dive zone. Our first dive started in the moderate rain at a site called Eye Full and it was a spectacular wall dive with an amazing swim through up and through a pinnacle projecting out from the wall. The wall was simply majestic with visibility approaching 200 ft. Yes 200 ft. Max depth 93 feet. I could have spent the entire day here. Which by the way we essentially did just moving a little further east for our next two dives.
Our second dive was at a site referred to as the End Zone. We started in the shallows and move out to a wall and headed along the wall. Sand channels in the shallows with lots of fish. Spotted a number of juve fairy basslets. Back on board with still some light rain but the wind all but disappeared and the seas dropped down to calm. Lunch was nice and more food than we could possibly eat. Trail mix really hit the spot between dives.
Third dive was a drift dive between two sites referred to as Mastiff Mtn and Neverland, again staying mostly on the edge of the wall. When we entered the water and dropped down we spotted a hugh loggerhead turtle swimming away from us. Swimming along the wall again was amazing with great vis despite the lack of sunshine above. What was noticeable on these three dives in this “remote” area of the north wall was the large amount of lion fish. At turtle reef we did not see any. None on the night dive. On our two tank we saw maybe one or two. On the three tank, lionfish were in abundance in the shallows at every site. On our 2nd of three dives in the shallow we stopped counting at 30 in the first 15 minutes. There was one coral head overhang in the shallows that had 9 underneath and around it.
After a great day of diving, resting and clean up we headed out to Tukas for our last night’s dinner. Tukas is just down the street from CP and is described as having an Australian chef with an Australian Carribean fusion menu. The restaurant is located on the water. It was drizzling outside so we opted to eat inside. The food was fantastic and I would recommend. We had lionfish cerviche and kangaroo sausages as apps and my daughter had grilled tuna and I had grilled mahi mahi with mussels. Both dishes were served with risotto. The meal with apps and two drinks was on expensive side but we felt it was well worth the price.
The next morning we checked out and again the staff was great, efficient and friendly. We were each given a complimentary log book listing the 55 sites on the norh, east and south side and a print out of each of our days dives, the names of the sites, max depth and bottom time. Nice touch. We drove to the airport in heavy rain, dropped off the rental car, checked in, through security, customs and the wait for the flight. The trip home was pleasant and uneventful. Air temps in NY were higher than GC.
Despite the less than ideal weather, we had fantastic diving and thoroughly enjoyed our time staying at CP and diving with OF. We would definitely return and stay and dive with them again. The walls on the North and South side were majestic. I used to dive GC in the 70s and 80s diving the west side. Just returned to GC last year for the first time since and while a lot has changed I found the island a pleasure to visit, the people friendly and could find areas on the island that reminded me of GC of many years ago. I did miss seeing the large wrecks on the reef I remember seeing way back when but I suppose it really was nothing more than junk and the view is perhaps better without them. All in all a great trip and we will be back for sure.
